Cophole Farm, Cophole Farm, Brompton Regis, Somerset, TA22 9NZ

Cophole Farm is a great looking place in an amazing location. We booked Cophole for 5 days over Christmas. We planned a large family gathering, with people traveling from around the world (USA and Australia) to celebrate Christmas together. We arranged for food and drink for us all to be delivered upon our arrival, day trips and activities were planned, booked and paid for and reservations were made at nearby restaurants with deposits being paid in advance to secure the reservations. We made our Cophole Farm reservation in August and paid in full. We booked from Dec 23rd to Dec 28th.

With over 300 acres, Cophole Farm sleeps 14 people. The only problem is that the 14 people may not be you or your party. Just 10 days before we were supposed to arrive, we heard from the booking agent that we would be unable to stay at Cophole as there had been a flood.

We asked for a refund but were told that we would not receive any money until the owner received payment from their insurance company. We failed to see the logic in this and again asked for an immediate refund. We were told that our contract is with the owner, of the property not the booking agency and that we would have to contact the owner directly. We’ve tried this but the owner has so far failed to answer their mobile phone or the phone number on their website. We then started to cancel the various activities and bookings we had prepaid.

In the course of making the cancellations we were told by one local business that funnily enough, they’d received another cancellation from disappointed Cophole clients (for the same flood reason) a couple of weeks earlier. Also, the booking agent offered us another (more expensive) property and offered to split the difference on the additional cost. We weren’t interested but asked that if all we had to pay was the additional charge, then they were therefore obviously fronting the money. Why then, could they not give us that money as refund for the Cophole cancellation? They didn’t answer that question. If Cophole were cancelling two weeks earlier, it must have been one hell of a flood - you’d think they’d let everyone know and then make repairs as soon as possible in order to retain their bookings. Then we looked at the availability calendar and see that the empty weeks after our reservation have disappeared and that the place is now booked through Christmas and into the New Year (Dec 23rd - Jan 2nd). Either the repairs are indeed massive so they’re working through the Christmas holidays or they’ve booked the place for ten days after cancelling our five day booking.

Regardless of the reasons behind the last minute cancelation by Cophole, we are disappointed not only in the fact that we now have to scramble to organize alternate accommodation for the family at such a busy time of year, but also in the lack of communication from the owner regarding their failure to refund our payment. This lack of communication is magnified by the strange and pathetic excuse we received from the booking agent about only receiving our refund after they receive an insurance payment for the great flood.

If you have a few thousand pounds you want to give away, book a week at Cophole Farm - they may even come up with a new reason for not refunding you when they cancel your booking.

Something smells fishy about Cophole - either avoid it or be prepared for disappointment.